A 77-page report titled ‘A year after Thootukudi burned’ released by the People’s Watch – a human rights organisation based in Tamil Nadu – explains in detail that justice remains ‘elusive’ and will perhaps continue to remain so.

The report says after the case was transferred to the CBI by the Madras high court, the families of the victims had a ‘ray of hope’, but were let down. The report says:

“The CBI team visited the violence affected areas. They have enquired only the officers who ordered firing on May 22, 2018, policemen on duty, families of the deceased and the injured persons. There is a general concern that the CBI team have not yet enquired enough number of people. Though there were explicit directions from the court that the investigation should be completed within four months, it has been nine months until now and yet, the investigation is not complete yet. In the FIR registered by CBI, names of the policemen who were responsible were not mentioned and instead, there were two general FIRs registered.”